If you were a rebellious young man in England in the 1960’s and considered yourself a “rocker”, you probably owned, or dreamed of owning, a motorcycle built for speed. Meeting your friends at the Ace Cafe, you could talk about your bikes, and race them through the streets… even try to do a “ton-up” (100mph or more).
The ultimate motorcycle at that time? Probably, a hybrid between a Triumph and a Norton. That fabulous Norton Featherbed frame married to a Triumph parallel twin, known as a Triton.
When Gabe told me recently that he was building a Cafe Racer out of an old Honda 350cc twin, I started to realize just how popular Cafe Racers had become of late. There are all sorts of retro interest groups, but this one really seems to have taken hold in the motorcycle community. Send us an email with your thoughts on Cafe Racers. The picture below is a Triton, and above is a Japanese custom powered by a Honda CB750 engine.
